


The Realm of Persephone

by Edonohana



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Blackberries, Character Tries A New Food For The First Time, F/M, Mortal Food is Surprisingly Edible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23725900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edonohana/pseuds/Edonohana
Summary: Persephone takes Hades blackberry picking.
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 71
Collections: Flash In The Pan: A Food Flash Exchange





	The Realm of Persephone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rubynye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubynye/gifts).



Hades shaded his eyes against the bright summer sun. 

Persephone tugged his hand down, laughing. “There is no point in visiting my realm if you hide yourself within it. Open your eyes, and see.”

“Your realm?” said Hades. “Your mother’s, surely. You are Queen of the Underworld; here you are no more than a daughter.”

“My mother rules the harvest of the furrowed fields. She rules the tended orchards and the planted vines, the cultivated grain and the discarded chaff. But this—” Persephone spread her arms wide, cupping the world within them. “All this is mine. _Look_.”

Hades looked. The hilltop was tangled and wild, thick with brambles and brilliant with wildflowers. No man had planted anything there; it had all sprung up from seeds dropped by animals, fallen to the ground, or blown in the wind. The scent of flowers and berries, crushed weeds and sun on earth was as intoxicating as any wine, and the music was played by birds and bees and the wind in the grass. 

It _was_ Persephone’s realm. The burrs that snagged in his cloak drew away from her flowing garments, and the thorns that sought to pierce his skin caressed her with their smooth sides. His feet made scuffs and indentations in the earth, but wherever she walked, she left tracks of scarlet poppies and indigo hyacinths, pink bindweed and yellow daisies.

“Come,” she said, and he followed in her rainbow footprints.

The bees sent up a lazy buzz around the thicket of glistening blackberries. She plucked one, black and shiny as his armor, and held it to his lips. Was this how she had felt the moment before she tasted his pomegranate seeds, reluctant and tempted at once?

Hades opened his mouth, and she placed the blackberry inside. As his teeth crushed it and the juice spurted, he wondered if all mortal food was so sweet. No wonder she had refused his for so long. He swallowed, and the seeds scratched his throat. He doubted that they would be so rough with hers. 

“Do I owe you a month up here for every seed?” Hades asked. 

“I will be kind,” said Persephone. “You will owe me a day.”

He plucked another berry.


End file.
